


A Wound Too Deep

by Vexatious



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swapfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, BBQTacos - Freeform, Complicated Relationships, Ecto-Genitalia (Undertale), Ecto-Tongue (Undertale), Ecto-Vagina (Undertale), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Kissing, M/M, Oral Sex, Puppyberry, References to Undertale Genocide Route, Revenge, Suggestive Themes, Swapfell Papyrus - Freeform, Swapfell Sans, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 14:02:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12819081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vexatious/pseuds/Vexatious
Summary: Swapfell is a dark and dangerous place. Sans and Papyrus, who simply goes by Mutt, only have each other to trust and rely on. Good thing there are no humans around to ruin the status quo…





	1. Falling

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter contains major character death and mildly suggestive themes.  
> Be sure to check out my [Tumblr](http://vex-bittys.tumblr.com)!

Mutt yawned and stretched. He really loved napping at his Snowdin sentry station, but Sans would be angry if he fell asleep on the job. Even napping took a backseat to his Lord’s approval. He squinted at the light source in the sky that managed to be both blindingly bright and never warm enough to melt the local ground cover. Ah, afternoon. Sans would be re-calibrating his traps in hopes of someday capturing a human. Mutt didn’t care one way or another about humans, but he loved basking in the glory of his Lord.

Stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets, the lanky skeleton set out to find his brother, the tag on his collar clinking softly as he walked. It never took him long to locate his brother; despite his small stature, the Maleficent Sans dominated any space he occupied. Mutt could sense his presence, and it comforted him. Their world was a corrupt and dangerous place, but they had each other. It had always been enough.

“There you are, Mutt. You better not have been sleeping on the job again,” Sans scolded sharply. 

“Of course not, m’Lord.” Mutt accepted his brother’s words like a caress. To anyone else, Sans’ tone and expression would’ve radiated distaste, but Mutt knew that the diminutive skeleton worried when he slept too much.

“Help me move this rock!” commanded Sans, looking regal in his Royal Guard armor. Mutt always felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the scar his brother had acquired earning that position. Sans had fought savagely to eke out a life for them both, a responsibility that should’ve fallen on him as the older sibling. Mutt never had his younger brother’s ambition though.

Mutt obediently scurried forward to lift the offending object. “Where shall I put it, m’Lord?” The arrangement of rock elements was tantamount in any monster puzzle, but instead of directing him, Sans stepped in close to adjust his grip and stance. The smaller skeleton could’ve lifted the rock easily, but he often resorted to trickery like this to get his lazy brother to train. Surely enough heavy lifting would boost those low stats and lower work ethic. It hadn’t yielded results so far, but, though he would vehemently deny it, Sans had unwavering faith in Mutt.

Mutt, for his part,  humored his energetic Lord. They spent hours in the frosty Snowdin forest with Mutt shifting and shuffling various obstacles that somehow all ended up in the exact same places they’d been before. He completed each task without complaint and according to Sans’ specific instructions. The artificial light hung low in the cave ceiling sky by the time his Lord was satisfied with his training.

They stood together for a rare peaceful moment in the clearing by the farthest sentry station. Beyond this laid the Ruins, but nobody really came or went from there. Sans perched himself on the wooden sill of the shack; Mutt took up a guard position in the shadow of the awning. They watched their breath rise in crystalline clouds like glittery shadows of the real thing, something neither of them had ever seen.

Slowly, hesitantly, Sans reached a small gloved hand out to stroke Mutt’s face. Mutt leaned into the touch, loving the feel of the soft leather against his scarred cheekbone. Suddenly, bright blue eyelights filled his vision. It was so rare to be alone like this. So rare to be able to let go and explore their love. “Mutt.” Just one word, spoken low and husky in a voice usually harsh and snappish.

“M’Lord,” he groaned as the distance between them closed. Their mingled breath swirled thick as smoke around them, hiding them from the silent forest, but the forest did not remain silent. The unmistakable crunch-swish of footsteps in snow caused the skeleton brothers to leap apart, both of them unerringly facing the direction of the noise- the path leading to the Ruins. Mutt stepped protectively in front of Sans, orange eyelights straining to pierce the chiaroscuro pattern of the fading light through the dense branches of evergreens.

Cautiously, Mutt crept forward, skirting the path to take advantage of the abundant tree trunks, thick enough to obscure his lanky form from even the most observant of intruders. Sans tried to follow him, but Mutt gestured silently for him to wait. For once, it was his Lord’s turn to obey. Mutt had no problem playing lieutenant in their day to day lives. Few monsters would risk an open attack on someone with the Maleficent Sans’ fearsome reputation, but he’d never let his brother face an unknown danger that he had not confronted first.

Mutt may have been lazy, but a monster didn’t survive long in their universe without an eye for strategy. Pinpointing the interloper’s location, he quickly circled, getting behind his potential enemy. Slipping from the forest onto the path, Mutt made his presence known by stepping heavily on a thick fallen tree limb. The sharp  _snap!_ of splintering wood served to direct attention back towards the Ruins and Mutt and away from Sans. If a battle ensued, Mutt wanted to prevent his Lord’s involvement and possible injury.

The footsteps faltered, stopped, and, after a brief pause, changed direction, exactly as Mutt had planned, but nothing could’ve prepared him for what he saw come around the bend in the path. The huge perceived threat that stalked the frozen woodlands turned out to be a very small human. The very small human also wore a striped sweater. In monster culture, stripes were only worn by children as a way to distinguish them from adult monsters and protect them from possible attack. Mutt huffed in relief. And to think, he’d almost exerted himself!

The human slowly approached him, trembling from cold or fear, or possibly a mix of the two. They held one arm furtively behind their back, and the other arm hung limply at their side. No creature in this universe had ever looked less threatening. Silently, the child lifted their head, catching him with their strange, red stare. A little creepy, but still not threatening.

“Is that any way to greet a new friend?” Mutt asked softly, trying to coax the unsettling child closer.  _What were they concealing in their other hand_ , he wondered. He shuffled slightly closer; the human remained where they had been standing. Narrowing his sockets, he took in another odd detail. Some kind of chalky dirt caked the child’s skin. It was hard to tell in this light, but it reminded him suspiciously of-

“Mutt! What’s taking so long?”

-monster dust.

The realization dawned on Mutt just as his younger brother made his appearance. Sans strode into view, then stopped dead in his tracks.

“A human!”

Mutt wasn’t so sure anymore as the indifferent expression on the child’s face melted into a horrific nightmare grin. The human whirled, faster than Mutt would’ve thought possible; steel flashed as they lunged at Sans, finally revealing the object tucked into their miniature fist- a knife!

Mutt teleported, an ability he preferred not to use unless completely necessary. Life was so much easier when he could play servant instead of revealing himself as a skilled and capable fighter. He couldn’t let the human get to his brother first though. He materialized beside Sans just in time to wrench the smaller skeleton out of harm’s way. The knife slashed harmlessly through the air, but the tiny human didn’t give up. Their determination to press the attack was surpassed only by Mutt’s determination to prevent it.

Shoving his protesting little brother behind him, Mutt narrowly dodged the next assault, retreating towards the vacant sentry station as the human rained a barrage of blows upon them. Mutt ducked and twisted, desperately shielding Sans with his own body. Their assailant continued to advance, and Mutt felt a bump as Sans, tucked behind him, collided with the unyielding wooden wall of the sentry station.

“Get inside, m’Lord,” Mutt ordered. He needed Sans to be safe, whatever else might happen. Without waiting for a response, trusting his proud brother to be compliant when it mattered, Mutt attacked.

_PING!_

Mutt caught the human in midair as they leapt forward, and their soul, as bright red as their eyes, immediately changed to blue. Mutt used his blue attack to throw the human child backwards and away from him and his brother. The small body crashed into the trunk of a massive tree and slumped to the ground. Exhaustion washed over Mutt. Why had he let Sans work him so hard earlier? The human rose to their feet, and Mutt steadied himself. He couldn’t fail. Not with so much at stake.

The human laughed, an eerie and unnatural sound. Mutt drew on his deep reserves of magic and blasted them with a complex bone attack. The murderous child darted nimbly through the ever-changing maze of bone spears. He altered his attack, managing to strike them several times, but they only slowed, never stopping. Mutt barely dodged the strike of the knife. He repeated his blue attack, slamming the human against the ground over and over, but his magic faltered. He couldn’t keep it up.

Mutt’s next series of bone attacks were slower, more predictable. The human avoided them easily. With the last of his magic, he summoned a Gaster Blaster, and as the dragon skull opened it’s gaping maw and blasted his opponent with concentrated magic, he saw their HP plummet. It didn’t reach zero though. He braced himself for their next attack; he didn’t know if he had the energy to sidestep this time. Surely he’d weakened the human enough, caused enough damage, that Sans could finish them off and survive.

Mutt watched events unfold with morbid acceptance. The human, eyes ablaze with crimson light, sinister grin oozing black slime, raised their knife. As the blade descended, he heard a shrill scream.

“Papyrus!”

Sans hadn’t called him Papyrus since they were babybones. Sans hadn’t shrieked like that since they were babybones either. Sans always displayed immaculate control of his tone and pitch when speaking or shouting.

Suddenly, Sans’ armored body stood in front of him, arms outstretched to protect, not attack.. Mutt’s sockets widened. The impact of the knife hit him secondhand; his beloved brother had absorbed the blow with his own body. Time slowed to a crawl as Sans bowed his head… in defeat? No. His down-turned skull moved forward, gaining momentum with agonizing slowness until it toppled free of his neck and tumbled down into the trampled snow. 

Mutt could only stare in anguish as his brother’s body crumbled, exploding into dust as it hit the ground, a dove grey sunburst on a bone white background. Mutt collapsed to his knees, frantically grabbing for his brother’s skull before it too dissolved before him, but a child-sized shoe crashed down on the bones, crushing them before the deep blue of his bother’s eyelights could even properly fade.

The merciless human continued their trek towards Snowdin, leaving Mutt awash in grief so intense that he couldn’t process it. Sans was so integral, such a permanent fixture, in his life that Mutt couldn’t comprehend being without him. He knelt in the mixture of snow and his brother’s dust, numb and frozen in a way that had nothing at all to do with the temperature. 

As a boss monster, Mutt bore the responsibility of stopping the human. His true battle post was located in the Judgement Hall of the castle; Sans would be angry if he shirked his duty. He couldn’t disappoint his little brother, but he couldn’t muster up any motivation. None of it mattered. Nothing mattered without Sans. Mutt laid unmoving on the frozen ground, a monument to his fallen Lord. He felt no desire to leave the last space in the Underground that his brother had occupied.

The rest of the world could crumble; Mutt’s world already had… crumbled into dust around him. He curled up, allowing his sockets to fully,  _finally_  drift closed, and waited for darkness to take him.


	2. Hitting the Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes monsters fall down, but they don’t always turn to dust. Sometimes they fall into a new Underground, a bright and safe Underground….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains grief and language.  
> Be sure to check out my [Tumblr](http://vex-bittys.tumblr.com)!

Snow had blown over his unresponsive body; he cherished the thought of being buried next to Sans. Just a little bit longer. His fingers brushed the soft fabric of his brother’s scarf.  _I’m coming, m’Lord_. His eyelights faded into nothingness, and his sockets slid closed. 

“Papyrus!” 

For a soul-wrenching moment, Mutt almost mistook the voice for his brother’s, but it didn’t quite match. It couldn’t be him anyway. His brother, his Master and Lord… he pushed the thoughts away. If he stayed here, kept his eyes closed, kept his mind blank, he could pretend it hadn’t happened, that it was just some sick and disturbing nightmare. If only that voice, that voice so very much like Sans’, would leave him in the snow to dust. 

“Papyrus!”

Why? Why did this ghost of his brother’s voice have to torment him? It sounded like an echo from the past, a time when Sans had been young, innocent, vulnerable. He clawed his skull, trying to drive the images from his mind- walking hand in hand with his babybones brother, Sans winning his first fight, beaming proudly and still holding the blood-soaked bones he’d summoned, his unguarded face when Mutt had carried him, unconscious, off the battlefield after he’d secured his place in the Royal Guard, a gaping wound over his eye dripping hot red blood into the thirsty ground.

His sockets stung with fresh tears. Never again. He’d never see his brother again.  _I don’t want this_.  _I don’t want this life anymore_.  _Not without him_.  _Just let me die_.

“Papyrus! Get up,” the voice pleaded, now much closer … pleaded, not commanded. This speaker did not possess his Lord’s sharp tone or easy confidence, yet Mutt could not disobey. He couldn’t disappoint Sans.

He staggered upright, then swayed on his feet. How long had he laid there? Time meant nothing to him. The only thing that meant anything to him was the red fabric clutched tightly in his fist, and the voice that had compelled him to move.

He couldn’t bear to turn his head and bring the owner of the voice into view. He couldn’t bear the thought of a fate as cruel as seeing some other monster standing there, imitating his lost brother, but he also couldn’t stop himself as a weak and dying spark of hope twisted his broken soul. He lifted his head.

_Sans_.

 

Mutt extended a shaking hand towards the round, unmarred face before him- so like, yet unlike, his Lord. Maybe… maybe his brother had come back. Maybe this softer, rounder form indicated some sort of rebirth, some sort of karmic reward for the hardships of their existence. The Sans in front of him looked like he’d never seen battle, never had to kill, to starve, to suffer. Unsharpened teeth, eyelights a pale blue with no shadows to haunt and darken them, and an immaculately clean and undamaged battle body provided a glimpse of what the Maleficent Sans’ life could have been. It couldn’t be real, yet a desperate hope pounded in his chest.

If only this strange doppelganger wasn’t staring at him in abject horror. Those bright, pale eyelights traveled down his body, stuttering to a stop at each shocking sight they encountered- his cracked mouth and gold tooth, his spiked leather collar, the blood on his shirt, the scars on his hands that hinted at more of the same, hidden by his clothing. It became abundantly obvious to Mutt that he had not been restored.

Recognition turned to doubt on the features of the smaller skeleton. No. No! This couldn’t be happening. He lurched forward, struggling to control the movements of his tired and broken body. Sans retreated, fear widening his sockets and replacing his doubtful expression. No, no, no!

“M’Lord,” Mutt rasped, the phrase harsh with emotion. He was so close to Sans, a different version of him, but still Sans, and the smaller skeleton looked ready to bolt. He couldn’t lose his Lord again. He couldn’t survive his brother abandoning him. He wobbled unsteadily as he took another step forward. His legs buckled, and he pitched forward into the snow.  _Forgive me, m’Lord_.

“Papyrus!” His not-brother ran forward and knelt at his side. He wouldn’t dust alone. Sans was here, and that was enough. Mutt smiled contentedly as inky darkness swallowed the world around him.

* * *

A (future) Royal Guard always stood his ground, but that policy was easier said than done when Sans discovered a skeleton monster with a striking resemblance to his brother half-buried in the Snowdin forest. He managed to get the not-Papyrus on his feet, but he couldn’t help being a bit intimidated by the other monster’s appearance. Imagine his surprise when the big, bristling skeleton monster collapsed! Fortunately, the Magnificent Sans was there to spring into action!

Sans hefted the taller skeleton easily into his arms, but the scary newcomer was easily as tall as Papy. Red sneakers dragged twin furrows through the snow as Sans jogged along the path to Snowdin, searching for his brother. As usual, Papy was snoozing the work day away at one of the Snowdin sentry stations, but he woke up pretty quickly when Sans shouted for him. It probably helped that Sans shouted for him from about an inch away from his skull.

 

“Papy! Look what I found while I was recalibrating my puzzles!” Papyrus thought his jaw would drop right off of his face. Sans had just plopped a very dangerous looking skeleton monster onto the ledge of the sentry station- a skeleton monster that looked suspiciously familiar. He checked his unconscious double’s stats. Sure enough, this newcomer’s name was Papyrus. The presence of a similar-yet-different skeleton that shared his name confirmed a theory he’d explored long ago in the Lab.

“Sans, do you remember when I worked as a lab assistant, and I had that theory about alternate universes?” Sans nodded, but his starry eyelights never left the other Papyrus. The Magnificent Sans had overcome his fear and come to the conclusion that this new Papy was extremely cool. He must have so many friends! “Well, I think you may have found an alternate version of me.”

Sans’ eyes somehow managed to light up even more. “So I have two brothers now?” Papy actually felt put out by his little brother’s excitement. Wasn’t one brother enough?

“Maybe, but only if we get him back to town. Poor guy is frozen solid. I wonder what happened to him?”

“The Magnificent Sans is on the case!”

“Uh, maybe you should let me carry him, bro.”

“Our new brother has already been a good influence on you! Now that you’re taking on more responsibilities, you can finally pick up that sock!”

“Nah.”

“PAPYRUS!”

* * *

Mutt regained his awareness in stages. Something weighed him down, and his instincts had recovered enough to tell him that he was trapped.He surged forward, out from under the heavy blanket that covered him, off of the plush sofa, and onto the floor, smacking his cheekbone on a coffee table in the process. The pain didn’t even register. He had to be prepared, ready to fight, ready to defend his Lord. His Lord… Recent events started to resurface in his mind. He was too late to defend Sans. He’d already failed. 

 

Mutt curled in on himself, gasping from the crushing pain of loss. The empty feeling of loneliness yawned widely in his chest. Why bother trying to escape? Maybe whoever had brought him here would kill him…

“Look, Papy, he’s awake!”

That voice… more memories emerged from the fog of his thoughts. That cherubic clone of his brother had saved him, had brought him here, but why? As much as the voice and appearance reminded him of his own brother, that Sans was not his Lord. When the unintentional imposter entered the room , he experienced a breathtaking punch of disappointment and a more subtle, more soothing sense of comfort. That slight comfort filled him with guilt. How could he ever feel relief again after what had happened? How could he be so disloyal to his Lord’s memory?

 

A tall, lanky skeleton followed the not-brother into the room. The new guy regarded Mutt with narrowed sockets and exuded a strong sense of mistrust. Mutt glared right back, but the sensation of seeing a monster so similar to himself unnerved him.

“The Magnificent Sans is also an excellent healer!” proclaimed the monster who shared a name and face with his own lost sibling. Mutt couldn’t meet the small skeleton’s eyes; he refused to be drawn to this Sans. His averted gaze left him unprepared for the light touch on his shoulder. He flinched. He couldn’t allow this other Sans to touch him. “You were holding onto this when you fell.” A small, delicate hand pressed something into his own palm. Mutt didn’t even need to see the item to know what it was. His Lord’s scarf.

 

The other-him stayed standing, leaning against a doorway that led to a kitchen, but Sans seated himself on the floor next to Mutt. Mutt couldn’t move away. He craved that nearness, even if this Sans was not quite his brother. He couldn’t help basking in a magical aura comparable to his Lord’s. It paled in comparison to something he could never have again, yet somehow it gave him a small measure of hope.

“Do you know how you got here?” asked the tall skeleton in a voice disconcertingly indiscernible from his own. Mutt shrugged. He didn’t know or care. Imperceptibly, he scooted closer to Sans. Papyrus was observant enough not to miss the movement.

 

“I think you might be from an alternate universe, a slightly more violent one if your appearance is anything to go by.” Mutt listened indifferently while Papyrus explained timeline theories and weak spots in the space-time continuum. Anxiety flooded Mutt’s soul. He wanted so desperately to be near this Sans, to feel the security of having someone resembling his Lord at his side again, but his Lord’s scarf sat in his lap like a bright red accusation.  _You let me die, and now you’re replacing me_? Mutt shifted away from the other Sans.

“You can’t both be Papyrus! So what are we going to call you?” Sans’ carefree tones intruded on Mutt’s private dialogue. He answered automatically.

“M’Lord calls me Mutt.”

The other two skeletons exchanged uncomfortable glances but said nothing. They’d noticed the collar, and now a nickname like Mutt? What kind of universe had this poor monster escaped from?

 

“Are you hungry? The Magnificent Sans is also an amazing chef!” Sans shouted into the awkward silence. Mutt just shook his head. Sans’ face fell and fresh loathing washed over Mutt. Now he’d hurt this gentle Sans’ feelings. He couldn’t eat someone else’s cooking though. That was one of his Lord’s rules.

“Maybe he wants to be left alone?” his own twin suggested. “You can sleep on our couch if you want, buddy pal friendo.” Mutt nodded absently. Sans and Papyrus excused themselves and went upstairs, and Mutt pulled the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around himself. He carefully tucked his brother’s scarf into the neck of his shirt and settled in to wait for morning. He didn’t want to sleep; he was afraid to dream.

It made no difference. Scenes replayed over and over in his mind- the gleam of crimson eyes, the flash of the knife, his brother falling to his knees in the snow. He clutched his skull, trying to make the images stop. His sanity slipped. His brother’s skull, sliding free of his neck. Why wouldn’t it stop. The human’s eerie smile. He couldn’t stand it anymore! Dust… so much dust, caking everything, choking him.

Panicked, Mutt scrambled up the stairs on all fours, aiming unerringly for Sans’ room. He knocked frantically on the door, whimpering, and it opened to reveal a very tired Sans in baby blue pajamas. He swiped at his socket with one hand. Mutt shuffled nervously. He had a sudden urge to run away, but Sans waved him inside.

“Do you need something?” he asked politely. Once again, he noted that Mutt wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“My brother…” Mutt gulped air, trying to form words, and Sans waited patiently for him to continue. “A human… a human killed him. I couldn’t… stop them…” Sans opened his arms, welcoming Mutt to him, but the parody of his brother’s dying pose twisted his soul further.

“I don’t know how to be without him…”

* * *

Papyrus heard the skeleton called Mutt knocking on his little brother’s door. No way would he let an unknown monster be alone with Sans; his bro was way too trusting. He slipped into Sans’ room only to find Mutt  _on top of Sans_ , pinning him to the bed. He heard muffled noises, and magic flared to life in his left eye.

_PING!_

“Get the fuck off of my brother!” Papyrus snarled, slamming Mutt into the wall.

“Wait!” protested Sans, but Papyrus ignored him. Mutt had covered his face, and Papyrus savagely ripped his hands away so he could look the filthy brother fucker in the socket when he dusted him.

Papyrus’ rage dissipated immediately. Mutt sobbed brokenly, his weakness exposed to both of them. The raw pain on the mirror image of his face filled Papyrus with regret. Sans pushed him out of the way and wrapped his arms around the distraught monster.

“It’s ok-” Sans paused. He couldn’t bring himself to refer to this grief-stricken skeleton as Mutt. -”Pup.” Much better.

“Mutt.” insisted Mutt. His Lord would have expected it of him.


	3. Rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Swap Papyrus can’t bring himself to trust a Fell monster. Mutt can’t trust himself. Underswap is so different, but Swap Sans is so like… him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains language and kissing.  
> Be sure to check out my [Tumblr](http://vex-bittys.tumblr.com)!

Mutt couldn’t bring himself to go back downstairs and face a night alone with his thoughts, and the Papyrus from this universe had banned him from Sans’ bedroom. Mutt ended up dozing off in the upstairs hallway, sitting across from the closed door of his Master’s lookalike. It was a testament to his mental and physical exhaustion that he didn’t awaken with the dawn as his Lord had always required.

Mutt woke to find the house occupants missing. Panic and shame fought for control in his chest. They’d left! They’d abandoned him! Everyone had left him, and it was all because of his failures. They’d known, known he’d let his brother die, and they had shunned him for allowing it to happen. He deserved this. If the roles were reversed, his Lord would never have let that human escape. He would’ve avenged his brother or dusted trying. Mutt had let his Lord down, had neglected his duties, and now he’d suffer a lifetime of despair and loneliness because of it.

How had things gotten so fucked up? If only he could go back… If only he could fix this… The murmur of voices interrupted his whirling, anxious thoughts. He wasn’t alone. The other two skeletons were downstairs, speaking in low voices, probably trying not wake him from what they would consider a well-deserved rest and his Lord would describe as undisciplined laziness. Mutt rushed down the stairs, desperate for a distraction from the constant pain of his memories.

Mutt tracked the murmuring voices to the kitchen, but the moment he entered the room, the conversation stopped. The other two skeletons had obviously been talking about him. The silence stretched, filling the room with an uneasy tension. 

“The Magnificent Sans has prepared a hearty breakfast for you, Pup!” the cherubic Sans shouted into the noise vacuum, holding up a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

“Mutt,” Mutt corrected, ignoring the food. He ached to take a bite; hunger gnawed at him. “And I only eat m'Lord’s cooking.” The not-his-Sans’ face fell, and Mutt felt like he’d been stabbed in the soul. He couldn’t disappoint this small, friendly skeleton, but he also couldn’t disobey.

Papyrus stepped in front of his crestfallen brother protectively, as if Mutt had physically attacked him rather than simply declined his offer of breakfast. 

“In our universe, we don’t let monsters starve,” he commented dryly. The statement wasn’t meant to be cruel, but the implication that his Master had forbidden him to eat through sheer sadistic spite had Mutt’s proverbial hackles up. “And what’s with the collar?” The Papyrus continued in his languid drawl.

“Papy!” admonished Sans, shocked by his brother’s bluntness, but Mutt didn’t need the smaller skeleton’s help.

“In our universe, we don’t let our brothers get poisoned. M’Lord has his rules for a reason. You can’t trust anyone where I come from. Our King moved to the Ruins of Old Home because he was paranoid that his wife, the Queen, would murder him to seize the throne. Every single monster in our universe is more than willing to lie, cheat, and kill to get ahead. Why do I wear a collar? Because I trust m’Lord with every aspect of my life. It also serves to let those other treacherous monsters know that if they cross one of us, they cross both of us,” Mutt ranted hotly, eyes ablaze with life for the first time since Sans had found him. 

Papyrus noticed that Mutt still spoke of his brother in the present tense, as if his Sans was still alive. Mutt touched his collar proudly, but his fingertips grazed the fabric of his brother’s scarf, hidden underneath it. Suddenly the proud fierce skeleton wilted. Mutt had been part of a matched pair, but now that bond was gone, dissolved into dust like his beloved Lord. He no longer had that underlying thread of trust and comfort to hold onto; he felt exposed, isolated. Suddenly he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

The memories began to replay. The red eyes and the gleaming knife edge lived in his soul now, taking over everything. Dust.  _Dust_. Everything was dust. 

A small hand slipped into Mutt’s unexpectedly. He jolted back to reality.  _Sans_. Not his Sans, but  _Sans_. He squeezed the small hand- so solid, so real. His alternate brother looked up at him with eyelights that same pale blue, brimming with concern and heartache. Mutt couldn’t look away; he felt like he was seeing into his own soul through the familiar yet unfamiliar sockets.

A much heavier arm descended on his shoulders. Papyrus gave him an awkward and insincere side-hug, subtly nudging his brother to a safer distance from the dangerous stranger. No matter how sad his story might be, Papyrus couldn’t trust Mutt around his innocent little brother. Sans remained oblivious to the mutual dislike shared by the taller skeletons.

“We need to get your mind off of what happened!” declared Sans in his enthusiastic, too-loud voice. “I know! We can go recalibrate my puzzles!” Mutt smiled sadly. Sans’ energetic attitude would’ve been contagious in any other situation, but he couldn’t muster anything except tired acceptance and a desire to be anywhere but here.

Mutt nodded.

* * *

Mutt couldn’t will his feet to take another step forward. The three skeletons stood on the road leading into Snowdin Forest, and Mutt had frozen. He didn’t want to go back. He didn’t want to see where it had happened. He couldn’t walk that path again.

“You could come hang out with me and do sentry duty,” Papyrus offered, leaning against a thick tree trunk with his hands in his hoodie pockets, chewing a sucker stick that protruded from his mouth. Mutt stood as close to Sans as possible without bumping him.

“Papyrus! You only ever go to your sentry stations to sleep!” complained Sans with feigned outrage.

“You caught me.”

Mutt glanced back and forth between the two skeleton brothers. This Sans didn’t push his Papyrus at all. He simply accepted the shirking of duty as part of his brother’s personality. Mutt’s brother always wanted him to improve, to succeed, to excel. These brothers seemed… indifferent, a luxury his universe didn’t afford. In Swapfell, you were strong or dead, and his Lord’s strict demands had kept them both alive and flourishing…  _had_.

“Don’t you ever patrol with your brother?” Mutt asked Papyrus incredulously.

“Nah,” replied papyrus. “He’s pretty magnificent, and I just slow him him down.”

Sans laughed. “Aww, Papy!”

“Besides,” Papyrus continued, “our universe is safe. There’s nothing out there my little brother can’t handle.” Sans struck an exaggerated heroic pose at his brother’s compliment, but Mutt still had lingering doubts. Mutt and his Lord feared very little in their own universe, yet one tiny human had changed everything. He shifted his weight from foot to foot uneasily.

Mutt sighed. He couldn’t avoid Snowdin forest. These naive skeletons didn’t understand the dangers potentially lurking nearby. He couldn’t let this Sans risk stumbling upon a human. “I’ll help Sans check his puzzles.”

Papyrus gave him a long unreadable stare before vanishing with a  _poof_  of displaced air.

* * *

Mutt found it hard to believe that they’d been in the woods for so many hours playing with  _actual_  puzzles. His head had whipped around at the slightest out-of-place noise or hint of a disturbance. He’d spent all day on high alert just to discover that the human traps in this universe amounted to little more than silly games. He hadn’t mentioned it. 

Sans’ eyelights had shone so brightly with joy as he explained each complicated solution to Mutt, who he referred to as Pup no matter how often Mutt corrected him. One human trap had been a simple cardboard box, held up at one end with a stick. A frozen plate of tacos had been used as bait. They’d replaced yesterday’s “bait” with a fresh plate of frozen tacos. This bright-eyed Sans’ excitement had never wavered.

Mutt and his substitute brother had avoided the path to the Ruins, choosing instead to build snowmen in a small clearing before heading home. Though thoughts of his own brother were never far from the forefront of his mind, the afternoon had passed peacefully for Mutt. Dinner, however, presented its own problems.

Papyrus and Mutt occupied opposite ends of the sofa in an uncomfortable silence only broken by the occasional clack of a sucker against Papyrus’ teeth. Sans had vanished into the kitchen, promising to make his brother and his brother’s dark twin the Best Dinner Ever. Mutt listened to the crash and clatter of someone who wasn’t very good at cooking making a colossal effort to whip up his very best dish. In his universe, those sounds heralded an enchilada dinner of biblical proportions.

Mutt’s mouth watered, but he couldn’t accept the offering of food even though the delicious smells from the kitchen were brutally chipping at his self-control. When Sans called them for dinner in his cheerful voice, Mutt shuffled to the table reluctantly. He didn’t want to see Sans’ face when he refused to eat again. Sans placed three plates heaped high with tacos on the table- one for himself, and one in front of each of the lanky skeletons. Nobody ate. Sans cleared his throat.

“Pup!” Sans pointed a gloved finger at his not-brother.

“Mutt,” mumbled Mutt, trying to avoid looking at the tempting food.

“I… mweh…” Sans hesitated, but finally found his voice, declaring confidently and firmly, “…I order you to eat!”

Mutt’s jaw dropped in shock. Papyrus stifled his outburst of laughter with both hands. This round-faced, adorable version of his brother had attempted to command him in his own brother’s voice… and failed in the most miserable, most heartwarming way possible. This Sans could never manage a harsh and commanding tone. He had a soft, soothing deep voice that had never been used to issue orders.

But Mutt couldn’t resist him. This food wasn’t poisoned. Sans had put a great deal of time and effort into making a suitable meal for Mutt. Would it dishonor his Lord to accept the offering? Could he actually bring himself to refuse?

“Yes, Sans.” Mutt picked up a taco and bit into it. Much like his Lord’s cooking, the entire meal was barely edible, but like his counterpart from this universe, he cleaned his plate and graciously thanked Sans, lavishly complimenting the food and the talent it must have taken to prepare it.

As a beaming, humming Sans picked up the dishes, Papyrus rose from the table and gestured for Mutt to join him outside.

* * *

Papyrus seated himself on the steps outside the back door. He took a candy wrapper out of his pocket and removed the sucker from his mouth, carefully wrapping it in the crinkly paper before stuffing it into his hoodie pocket. He reached into a side pocket on his cargo shorts and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He placed one in his mouth, then offered the pack to Mutt. Mutt shook his head.

“Not allowed?” asked Papyrus, lighting up.

“I chose m’Lord over my vices. Nothing will ever change that,” stated Mutt flatly. “Doesn’t your brother disapprove of smoking?”

“That’s why I only smoke outside,” replied Papyrus smoothly.

“But you still smoke,” Mutt pointed out.

“It’s not like I have lungs to pollute.” Papyrus shrugged. “You need to realize that our universe isn’t all or nothing like yours was. Of course I care and worry about Sans; we’re brothers. Sans and I each have our own lives though, our own bonds and friendships with other monsters. We can function separately because we don’t need to constantly watch each other’s backs. This universe has a freedom that yours doesn’t. You should enjoy it.”

“You know as well as I do that we aren’t weak monsters,  _Papyrus_. I could’ve had freedom in my universe, but I chose to stay with my brother, to protect him and help him achieve his goals. Once he became a Royal Guard, I thought my work was done. I’d smoke, drink, and sleep all day because I thought m’Lord didn’t need me. He gave me a choice. Take the collar, stay with him, and allow him to help me get my life under control or leave forever and live life my way. He couldn’t stand by and watch me self-destruct. I could’ve had freedom. I chose the collar. I was just as scared to lose him as he was to lose me. I guess in the end, it didn’t matter.”

Mutt’s breath rose into the frigid night air, a mirror of the exhaled smoke from Papyrus’ mouth. Papyrus smoked, and Mutt watched the mica-chip stars as the moments crept by.

“You aren’t planning on killing me and trying to take my Sans away, are you?” Papyrus finally spoke, a lazy wisp of magic drifting out of his left socket as the eyelight glowed a bit brighter.

“I considered it,” Mutt responded honestly. His mind constantly strategized, playing out every possible scenario to choose the best option. He had, in fact, considered killing this Papyrus and maiming this Sans to look like his Lord, but he’d discarded the plan before it had even fully formed. “Your Sans could never be my brother. Nothing will ever change that either. Nothing can ever compare to m’Lord.”

“At least you’re honest about it.”

“Only because I decided not to do it.”

* * *

The next day, Sans invited him to a training session with the Captain of the Royal Guard, Alphys. Papyrus seemed much more relaxed about letting Mutt hang around with his brother, and Mutt needed a way to occupy his thoughts so he wouldn’t get overwhelmed again. Besides, all of the monsters in this universe were pacifists, and Mutt wondered what battle training here could possibly consist of. Swearing? Middle fingers? Aggressive hugging?

It baffled Mutt that this Sans hadn’t obtained a Royal Guard position yet. He claimed that Alphys said he needed more training, but Mutt suspected that this cute , gentle version of his Lord lacked a killer instinct. Mutt sat on the sidelines while Alphys and Sans stretched, warming up their muscles for sparring, Mutt assumed. The pair struck some heroic poses that made the corner of Mutt’s mouth twitch into an almost-smile, then they wrestled amicably for awhile before going into Alphys’ house to make tacos.

Not one single attack pattern or defensive move had been practiced.

Mutt confronted Sans about it on the walk home. “How are you supposed to train without trying out attack and defense maneuvers?”

“Mweh heh heh!” laughed Sans, startling Mutt. Mutt had never heard such joyful laughter from his own brother’s mouth. How strange and wonderful. He liked it, but it made him wish his Lord had had a chance to experience such humor during his lifetime. “Of course we don’t use real attacks! Someone could get hurt!”

“Or you might actually learn something,” muttered Mutt. “You’ll never achieve your full potential training that way. My brother is-” Mutt froze, gulping in air for several seconds before he managed to continue “- _was_ a Royal Guard, but he had to train hard to earn it. Watch.”

Mutt summoned a bone attack aimed at Sans, who barely scrambled out of the way in time to avoid damage.

“W-what are you doing?” Sans sounded frightened, not at all like his usual confident self.

Mutt repeated the attack exactly as he had done the first time, and Sans dodged easily. When Mutt used the same attack a third time, Sans countered with his own fierce array of bones.

“I’m showing you what you’re truly capable of,” answered Mutt simply.

* * *

Each day, Mutt and Sans trained in the forest- in between checking Sans’ puzzles of course. They always avoided the trail to the Ruins, and Mutt always had a fresh attack pattern to challenge the would-be warrior. Doing battle exercises with this Sans gave Mutt a purpose. He still missed his own brother; how could he not? His Lord’s absence was a sharply painful wound that would never truly heal, so Mutt dedicated himself to making life better for this Sans the way his brother had made life better for him.

Every night, he went to sleep on the downstairs couch, holding his Lord’s bandanna tight and wondering if his brother would be proud of him. At first, he’d doubted himself. Every day that he continued to live flew in the face of his brother’s legacy. After a month had passed, he began to think his brother would approve of his actions. He never removed the collar, but now the smooth leather felt a lot less like the shackles of guilt and grief and more like a monument to his brother’s memory that he carried with him.

That day, Mutt and Sans trained hard. Mutt pressed forward with complex combinations of attacks, and Sans defended deftly before launching a particularly clever counter-attack. When they finished the round, they stood facing each other, sweat trailing down their skulls, mouths open to pant softly, creating robust steam clouds in the chilly afternoon air.

Mutt smiled, a full and genuine smile that actually felt like it belonged on his face. Sans returned the smile with a huge one of his own, looking up at Mutt with round blue eyelights that captured the ambient light beautifully. They were so close that Mutt could feel the warmth of Sans’ breath like ghostly fingers on the front of his shirt.

“You were amazing,” Mutt congratulated the smaller skeleton. Sans had shown incredible improvement in both attack and defense, and Mutt couldn’t praise his quick mind enough.

“Thanks, Pup. You’re pretty amazing too.”

“Mutt,” Mutt said automatically. He still insisted on using the name his Lord had given him.

Without warning, Sans grabbed a double fistful of Mutt’s turtleneck, pulling the larger skeleton down to his height. Mutt couldn’t even sputter a question before Sans’ mouth was pressed to his, tongue sweeping his sharp teeth, begging for entrance.

Mutt couldn’t do this. This was  _not_  his brother. It wasn’t right. He-

He opened his mouth, sliding a hand up to cradle the back of this gentle Sans’ skull as their tongues stroked and jostled each other. He could feel the smaller skeleton, the skeleton who was not his brother, the skeleton who would never be his brother, moaning into his mouth.

“Mmm… Pup.”

He didn’t break the kiss. He didn’t correct the misnomer.

_I’m so sorry, m’Lord._


	4. History Repeats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can Mutt make a new life for himself in Underswap, or will his loyalty prevent him from ever finding peace…?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! Here's the smut.   
> Be sure to check out my [Tumblr](http://vex-bittys.tumblr.com)!

_I’m so sorry, m’Lord._

Kissing this other Sans, this sweet and soft Sans, felt so good, but the enjoyment clawed at Mutt’s soul. His brother, his lover was gone. Mutt could never be with him again, but could he accept this substitute? Could he allow himself to find someone else to share that close bond with? It felt like betrayal. It felt like cheating. Mutt knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t pull away.

Sans broke the kiss, moving away from Mutt reluctantly. His small gloved hands- the same size as Mutt’s brother’s- rose to cradle the sides of the taller skeleton’s skull. Gentle thumbs brushed away tears Mutt hadn’t even known he’d been shedding. They poured down his cheekbones, dripping off of his face and freezing into minuscule diamonds before they even hit the snow.

“I can’t-” Mutt whimpered.

Sans shushed him. The short skeleton could tell that Mutt desperately craved closeness. In Mutt’s universe, a strong bond was a rare treasure to be cherished and guarded until death and even beyond it. Obviously, Mutt just wasn’t ready to try again. In a kind and friendly universe where monsters formed friendships and relationships as easily as breathing, Mutt had isolated himself, starving himself from the oxygen of affectionate contact.

Healing took time. For some wounds, that amount of time seemed infinite, and Sans refused to rush him. Mutt’s broken soul would mend in its own time, and Sans just wanted his brother’s alternate self to be happy.

* * *

Papyrus sensed something was off about his brother and his twin the moment they walked through the front door. Normally, Sans was a bouncing ball of joyful energy, and Mutt tended to look tired but pleased after a day of hard work. Today they wore somber expressions and didn’t make eye contact with him or each other. A pale blue blush dusted Sans’ cheeks, and Mutt had a faraway look in his eyelights.

Sans hurried to the kitchen to make dinner, which meant tacos that never tasted quite right. Mutt climbed onto the couch, but he crammed himself into the farthest corner and pulled his knees up against his chest. 

“What happened?” Papyrus asked once the kitchen noises started, making it nearly impossible for a certain curious brother to eavesdrop. Mutt didn’t react. Papyrus tried again.

“Did something happen between you and my brother?” Papyrus’ normally laidback drawl had a slight undertone of menace to it. Just because the two tall skeleton had been getting along didn’t mean Papyrus fully trusted the Fell monster.Not when it involved Sans anyway.

Mutt still didn’t respond. His thoughts ensnared him like a complicated monster puzzle, and he couldn’t escape. His relationship with his Lord hadn’t ended; it had been taken. Accepting a new lover meant admitting that that chapter of his life was over. That he could never get it back. That he was willing to give it up. It meant accepting that his own Sans was really and truly gone.

He stood on a precipice in his mind. Could he forget what he’d had and move forward to what he could have?

* * *

Mutt skipped dinner. Papyrus, assuming that a morose Mutt was a safe Mutt, decided to go to Muffet’s for the evening. Sans cleaned the kitchen then shuffled up the stairs to his room. Mutt hated to see the usually perky skeleton so glum. He had to explain, to make Sans understand the battle that raged within him. Maybe he could find a way to make amends to Sans for having a life too broken to fix.

Mutt tapped softly on Sans’ door, and Sans invited him in. Mutt stepped across the threshold and froze in his tracks. His brother’s doppelganger had his battle body off and his shirt half-lifted over his head. Even without the scars, Mutt recognized every curve and line of those ivory bones. The shorts that this Sans wore with his training outfit rode low, exposing rounded hips that Mutt had spent many candlelit evening exploring with his fingertips. 

_Fuck._

Mutt moved closer without even realizing it.

“P-Pup, what are you-”

“Call me Mutt. Please.” Mutt nuzzled into his not-brother’s neck, pushing the shirt the rest of the way off and discarding it onto the floor. The scent was a little different, and this tame version of his fierce and imposing brother had a slightly higher-pitched voice, but if he didn’t think too hard… Mutt’s tongue slipped out to lick Sans’ sensitive neck.

“Mweh!” Sans gasped. Close enough. The noises and sensitive spots paralleled his own brother’s nicely. Mutt’s phalanges traced  Sans’ sternum before sliding over to caress the undersides of his ribs. Sans moaned helplessly as Mutt’s clever tongue found the disks between each vertebrae and stroked and teased them. Mutt couldn’t separate the situation before him from his memories, and he preferred it that way.

Lifting Sans’ small body in his powerful arms, Mutt placed him on his back on the bed. Sans gazed up at him with star-shaped eyelights under half closed lids, face glowing with a bright and irresistible blush. Mutt tugged questioningly at the shorts. His Lord never permitted him to remove articles of clothing without permission. Sans’ hand joined his on the waistband of the shorts, helping him to remove them. They joined the shirt on the floor.

Sans definitely had a rounder, softer ecto-body than his Lord, but if Mutt just closed his eyes he could pretend, just for tonight. Shame stabbed at him. He knew it was selfish to use this Sans for his own twisted comfort. He knew it was unfaithful to lay with someone else and imagine it was his Lord, but he needed this.The temptation of one last passionate tryst, one last memory to hold onto, even if it was a lie, would be worth dusting himself a million times over in atonement. 

Mutt lowered himself until his skull nestled between Sans’ ample thighs. He kissed one thigh, then the other, nipping at the pale blue ecto-flash lightly just to hear those breathy moans. He couldn’t be as rough with this Sans as he was with his own brother, but the quavering voice above him mewled for more as delicate skeletal hands came to rest on his skull. His own hands found the supple flesh of two exquisite ass cheeks, and he kneaded them erotically.

Sans’ body shivered, and his spine arched as Mutt continued to pepper his tender flesh with gentle bites. Mutt used his thumbs to spread Sans’ puffy pussy lips, revealing his eager, dripping entrance.

“Y-yes… please…ahhh…” Sans whimpered. Mutt huffed a hot breath against the pulsing hole, extending his tongue slowly. Just a taste. He just wanted a taste. He slid his tongue into Sans’ tight little cunt gently, trying to hold onto his tenuous control. He couldn’t. He pushed forward aggressively, burying his thick tongue fully in Sans’ hot, clenching pussy, curling it to stroke Sans’ most sensitive places. His sharp teeth grazed the small skeleton’s swollen clit.

“PAPY!” Sans wailed before clapping both of his hands over his mouth.

Mutt withdrew, tongue still poking out between fanged jaws, coated with Sans’ arousal. Sans stared at Mutt, mortified. Embarrassed tears welled in those big, blue eyes, and it made Mutt wince. He didn’t want Sans to experience guilt for his actions.

“Pup, I’m so-”  _sniffle_  “-sorry. I just-”  _sniffle_  “-you remind me so much of my brother!”

“I know.” Mutt  _did_  know, too well. He wrapped his arms around Sans and held him close while he cried. “It’s not fair to you to use me as a replacement for your brother any more than it’s fair of me to sleep with you to recapture something in my life that’s gone.” He nuzzled the smaller skeleton in wistful affection. “The difference is that you still have a chance to be with  _your_  brother.”

“I can’t. It’s not like that here. He’s so popular. He could have anyone- Muffet, Grillby, even his friend who lives in the Ruins! Why would he ever have to look at his own brother in such a way?” Sans sounded defeated.

“The Magnificent Sans never gives up, right?” murmured Mutt. Sans nodded.  “You need to tell him how you feel. I think you’ll be surprised.” Mutt had a definite sense that Papyrus’ feelings for Sans were less-than-brotherly, but who was he to judge?

Mutt held Sans for a long while, reveling in the serenity and security of the smaller skeleton’s nearness, but he excused himself to take up residence on the couch before Papyrus got home and found him in Sans’ room with his brother naked on his lap. Mutt could beat Papyrus in a fight, but Sans would never forgive him for hurting his brother.

* * *

The next morning, Papyrus invited himself along on their training patrol. Their odd behavior had made him suspicious, and he wanted to see what exactly Mutt and Sans got up to alone in the Snowdin forest. Mutt didn’t want to interfere with a potential relationship between this Papyrus and his Sans, so he offered to watch one of Papyrus’ sentry stations and let the brothers recalibrate Sans’ puzzles together. 

Mutt would have leapt at the chance to have just one more day with his own brother, another opportunity to surreptitiously hold hands when no one was watching. He wanted this Sans to have that chance, a chance to find that soul-deep happiness with his Papyrus.

Mutt rested his chin on the wooden sill of the sentry station. Not to sleep, of course, never to sleep. His Lord did not allow him to slack off on sentry duty, alive or dust. He yawned and stretched, then reached up to his neck to touch the brass tag that hung from his collar, bearing his brother’s name. He stroked the soft fabric of his brother’s scarf, tucked away beneath the leather.

_I am yours, m’Lord, and I always will be._

Fatigued by sheer boredom, Mutt stood up and paced around the sentry station to keep from dozing off. The morning air was clear and sharply cold, perfect for carrying voices. He strained himself to listen, thinking he’d caught Sans’ excited shouting from somewhere near… the Ruins?

Mutt started to run.  _Not this. Not again. Not now._

“WOWIE! A REAL HUMAN! PREPARE TO BE CAPTURED BY THE MAGNIFICENT SANS!”

_No, no, no, no, NO_!

Mutt burst into the clearing- the same clearing, with the exact same human strolling purposefully across it. He recognized the gleaming red eyes, the flash of the knife, and the pall of monster dust smeared across the child’s innocent-looking body.

The scene unfolded: a distorted replay of events in his own universe.

There stood Sans, welcoming the little hellion with open arms and a wide smile, never suspecting what a human child could be capable of.

The human lunged forward to attack the defenseless skeleton.

This universe’s Papyrus teleported to block the blow with his own body.

Mutt couldn’t let it happen. Not like this. Not to this universe too. Sans deserved better. Mutt teleported at almost the exact same moment that his twin did, but he wasn’t aiming to block. Mutt was on the attack.

He materialized in front of the human with a bone attack already summoned. He didn’t use blue magic; he didn’t dodge and strike in complex patterns. He grabbed the evil child with both hands and held tightly as bone spurs punctured through them both. He looked the hellspawn right in the eyes as blood dripped from both of their mouths and the child’s life force faded, and he smiled.

_Gotcha_.

The human’s soul broke in half, and his own HP plunged from the self-inflicted wound in his own soul. He couldn’t die quite yet though. He had to make sure. Falling to his knees, he placed a hand over both halves of the human soul and smashed it into a fine red dust.

**[0.003]**

The bones from his attack disappeared with no more magic to support them.

**[0.002]**

The knife laid in the snow, harmless without someone to wield it.

**[0.001]**

He could hear panicked voices shouting, but he couldn’t make out the words or identify the speakers.  _I’m coming, m’Lord._

**[0.000]**

* * *

_His Lord stood before him in his worn and well-loved battle armor- armor they had painstakingly crafted together before Sans had even joined the Royal Guard, and though his tone was sharp when he spoke, his brother’s soft blue eyelights shone with relief and love._

_“There you are, Mutt. You better not have been sleeping on the job again.”_

_“Of course not, m’Lord.”_


End file.
